The streetcar rattles through the west end of Toronto, past Little Italy and into an area that’s a mish-mash of Vietnamese restaurants and family-run businesses.

As we clatter along, I ponder the irony of being squished like a sardine in the red rocket on my way to a Portuguese restaurant.

I find the diner next to a Portuguese bakery that has windows filled with soft, cushion-like loaves of fresh bread and yellow custard tarts.

This is where Liberal leadership candidate Charles Sousa is at home.

He may represent comfortably suburban Mississauga, but his heart is still in the hardscrabble immigrant core of the city.

Largely unknown in the broader political landscape, here on his home turf, there’s a stack of Portuguese newspapers — and Sousa’s picture is on Page 1 — and pages 3, 4 and 5.

The owner greets him like a hometown hero at the Bairrada Churrasqueira, and sends over a plate of Portuguese appetizers.

Turns out the small fish are sticklebacks, not sardines. But I’m sure they’ve lived just as cramped an existence as I did on the streetcar.

Sousa grew up in Kensington Market, where his dad, Antonio, was a merchant.

His father fled the fascist Portuguese regime in 1953 where he was a young entrepreneur in a small fishing village north of Lisbon.

He first worked in a logging camp in Labrador, where he quickly established himself as a small businessman, buying and selling with a neighbouring U.S. air base and bringing in warm clothes from Eaton’s in Montreal to sell to the newly arrived workers.

“He was a dishwasher, but he bought and sold everything for the camp,” Sousa recalled.

As soon as he’d saved enough money, he moved to Kensington Market and worked for years as a wholesaler, selling dry goods, canned goods and fish to the community.

That’s how Sousa knows the restaurant owner — his dad once supplied the fish.

His dad started a Portuguese club and helped get Portuguese programs into the schools.

Over the years, Antonio helped other businesses, providing financing for struggling immigrant stores and restaurants.

His dad’s philosophy was simple, Sousa recalls.

“He said, ‘there’s room for everyone, everyone can compete. Everyone can do business. There’s room for everyone to learn and there’s room for everyone to help one another.

“‘The more I help you, the more I succeed as well, because you’ll win and you’ll buy — and you’ll buy from me.’ ”

By the time Sousa was in high school, the family had moved to Mississauga — and he was the all-Canadian boy. He played football and was athlete of the year in his middle school.

After university, Sousa started his own business, financing small businesses. Eventually, he caught the eye of the Royal Bank and went to work there.

When he kicks back, Sousa enjoys music.

“I like banging away on the piano when I can,” he told me.

He’s even cut a couple of CDs of music he describes as “soothing instrumental piano.”

Sousa and his wife, Zenaida have three children, Cristine, Justin and Jessica.

He was sitting fifth after last weekend’s delegate selection votes in ridings across the province.

All the same, with a delegated convention, anything’s possible. If no one has 51% of the vote on the first ballot, those delegates are free to vote however they wish.

And remember, in 1996, a little known backbencher — Dalton McGuinty — had only one MPP supporting him.

It would be remiss of me to end the interview without raising the obvious.

Around Queen’s Park, Sousa’s known as the Billion Dollar Man — the guy who was the loudest opponent of the Mississauga power plant that was moved in a controversial last minute decision taken during the last election.

That hasty move triggered the contempt motion against Energy Minister Chris Bentley last fall, after the government dragged its heels producing documents relating to that decision.

In hindsight, was that a good idea?

Sousa knows the question is coming — but bristles slightly.

“It was the siting of the plant that was wrong,” he insists. “I opposed it, before I was elected, when I was seeking election.

“I opposed the siting when I was on the backbench. I continued to oppose it as a minister because there was an alternative — there was a solution,” he said. “The solution was to have it moved to a community that wants it. Allow them to have co-generation and job creation.”

What’s bad for Mississauga is good for another riding, apparently.

Even if the former Labour minister doesn’t end up in the premier’s chair, he’s ambitious and you sense he’s going places. He could be king or queen-maker at the convention — and end up as finance minister.

Or perhaps, when Hurricane Hazel McCallion finally retires, he may end up as mayor of the city he saved from the power plant.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.